Reds InsiderFrom news of the day to news of the weird, John Fay provides a glimpse of what it’s like to cover the Cincinnati Reds

John Fay has been the Reds beat writer for the Enquirer since 2001. Prior to that, he served in a variety of roles for the Enquirer: backup Reds writer, UC beat writer, backup Bengals writer and as a general assignment reporter. He is a Cincinnati native and a graduate of Elder High School and the University of Dayton.

8 Comments:

John: Point taken about Lohse's trading stock, though that could change if the good Kyle re-emerges upon return to GABP, where he's been solid. Any positive buzz from the team regarding the bullpen? Obviously we lost the series, but in addition to three quality starts, then pen yielded only 2ER (both Stanton) in 8.1IP. Might we be getting things turned around, Lastings Milledge's exploits notwithstanding?

As much as we would all like to have seen Mackanin's early success continue, it's probably best for all concerned, that it didn't. Now, management can abandon any thought that this season is salvageable, or that Mackanin is the answer, and get down to the business at hand - hiring a seasoned manager, and retooling the roster. Frankly, I don't envy Wayne Krivsky. His trade bait is limited, and the minor league rosters he largely inherited are stocked with guys 2, 3 or 4 years away from being major league ready (and that includes Joey Votto). However, you gotta believe that Krivksy can get at least one solid prospect each for Griffey, Dunn, Weathers and Hatteberg. Heading into the offseason with four additional hot prospects, and the cash freed up by the aforesaid players' departures would give Krivksy the flexibility he needs to achieve an extreme makeover.

Anonymous, I'm wondering what you meant by saying that even Joey Votto is "2 or 3 years away". He was ready back in May. He's better than Hatteberg already. It's just that the Jurassic-era Reds management is too terrified by modern performance analysis to see that historically guys like him can jump to the majors from AA (and outperform the Hattenine placeholder).

But what do you expect from a gang of dullards who think the pointless, punchless Norris Hopper is part of their future while the productive Encarnacion is washed up at 24.

What's the fascination with Hopper anyway? I don't get it. He's a journeyman 4-A guy. Wake up, Cincinnati. It's really not that difficult to build a winner. Have a plan. A good one, preferably.

It hardly matters who the manager is right now. The Reds are not winning the NL Central this year, period. They need to focus on building a team. The first step is helicoptering Wayne Krivsky to someplace in the Yukon without a compass so that he cannot find his way back to the Queen City.

He's about 1 for 10 so far. Brandon Phillips was an accidental hit for him, but it is clear from everything else he does that he hasn't a clue.

I thought Krivsky gets kudos for Phillips and Hamilton? I would have liked Krivsky to have been fired on Narron-dumping day but it looks like clueless blind Bob is allowing nearly clueless blind Wayne to lead the Reds into an interminable period of mediocrity. They may eclipse the Bengals for consecutive losing season before Bob admits that he's not a baseball guy and needs to sell the team to someone who IS a baseball guy. The buck stops at the produce section. I'd like to see Krivsky and Castellini make themselves part of the upcoming fire sale even more than I'd like to see the 2008 Reds NOT have Gonzalez, Coffey, Stanton, Hatteberg, Conine, and Castro on the roster.

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